Johann Gottfried Berger

Johann Gottfried von Berger (November 11, 1659 – October 2, 1736) was a German physician and writer on physiology who was an early follower of the iatromechanical explanation of human organ functioning.

Berger was born in Halle and was educated at Jena (1682) and Leipzig. He became a professor of medicine at Wittenberg and as court physician to King August of Poland. His brother Johann Wilhelm was also a physician. Berger wrote a textbook Physiologia medica (1702) and his writings showed a leaning to iatromechanical theories and Cartesian ideas while opposing older ideas of Galenic humors and animism. It is said that he obtained a part of a manuscript of Gjuro Armen Baglivi which he took away from the author and was influenced by it. Although Baglivi feared that Berger would plagiarise it, there has been little evidence for it.[1][2][3]